CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Updated)

CAT Marks vs Percentile: Understanding the CAT score vs percentile is very important for every aspirant who are targeting IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) and other top B-Schools in India. The CAT exam is not just about attempting questions but it is also about how you score compared to others that sets a strong competition and this is where CAT percentile plays an important role.

Many aspirants wonder how much marks they need for 99+ percentile in CAT 2025? Those who are aiming for MBA/PGDM admissions to top-tier institutes like IIM or other reputed institutes must achieve at least 95 to 99+ percentile. However, this also depends on the difficulty level of the CAT question paper 2025. Before understanding the CAT score vs percentile, aspirants must first understand the overall marking scheme, including the number of questions, maximum marks, marks per question, and negative marking etc. Talking about the previous year, the total marks in CAT 2024 were 204, with 68 questions asked across three sections. Familiarity with the CAT score vs Percentile trend is crucial as it helps you set a target score and predict your chances of securing admission in top MBA colleges in India. This year it is expected that if you get 40 – 45% of the total marks in CAT then you will land up getting a 99+ percentile in CAT 2025. In this blog, we will be talking about the CAT score vs percentile from the previous year trends, check the importance of CAT marks vs percentile, how to convert CAT score to percentile and more.

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Why CAT Score vs Percentile Trends Important?

More than 3 lakh students register for the CAT exam every year, making it a highly competitive process. CAT aspirants aiming for the 99+ percentile must understand all the aspects of the CAT marks vs percentile trend. This trend indicates the difficulty level of the exam, and other candidates’ performance that can affect your total CAT score vs percentile. To ensure fairness and consistency in comparing candidates’ performance across different test sessions, the candidate’s score will undergo a process of normalisation. The normalisation process shall adjust for location and scale differences of score distributions across different forms. Once normalised across different forms, the marks are further normalized across different sections. The resulting scaled scores are then converted into CAT percentiles for shortlisting purposes. In this article, we have compiled details about the CAT score vs percentile previous trends and how many marks you need to score 99+ percentile in CAT 2025.

Better knowledge about the CAT score vs percentile correlation is important for structured goal setting and exam-day strategy. For example, knowing that a score of around 40-45% of the total marks can land you in the 99+ percentile range enables CAT aspirants to approach the section with a more realistic target. This approach can help you manage time across different sections, prioritise accuracy over multiple attempts, and reduce exam time stress and anxiety. A clear understanding about the CAT score vs percentile allows aspirants to identify which section in CAT you need to contribute to get high percentiles so that you will prepare accordingly.

Common Queries Related to CAT Score vs Percentile

Here are some general queries of CAT aspirants related to the CAT marks vs percentile.

What is the CAT Score vs Percentile?

You must first understand the CAT score and the CAT percentile to gain insights into the CAT score vs percentile trends in a detailed manner. Firstly, the CAT raw scores are normalized across different sections to arrive at the scaled scores, which shall be further converted into percentiles. While the CAT percentile indicates the percentage of test-takers who scored less than you. For example, if you score 99 percentile in CAT. This implies that you are ahead of 99% of the test takers. We have shared below the previous year’s analysis to help you understand the marks you need to score 99+ percentile in CAT 2025.

CAT Score vs Percentile – Key Differences

Getting each and every term clear about the topics helps you to understand the CAT exam properly where CAT score refers to the total marks obtained in the exam based on the CAT marking scheme whereas CAT percentile is the relative ranking received by the candidate among all the test-takers in the CAT exam. Please find the detailed table mentioned below for the comparison of CAT Score vs Percentile.

CAT Score	CAT Percentile
Total marks obtained in the CAT exam based on correct and incorrect answers.	The relative ranking of a candidate compared to all other test-takers.
Absolute value	Relative value
Based on CAT marking scheme (correct +3, incorrect –1)	Based on the number of candidates scoring less than you
0 to 198 (approx.)	0 to 100
Your raw performance in the test	Your position or rank among all test-takers
Slightly affected	Heavily affected by normalization and scaling

CAT Score vs Percentile: How Normalization Changes Everything?

Normalisation process is a key factor to understand the basic difference between the raw scores and scaled scores which leads to a final CAT percentile based on the difficulty level of different slots. Let’s take an exam if the raw scores of candidates in VARC of slot 1 is more the authority will decrease the scores to finalize their respective scaled score to ensure fairness to other candidates in CAT exam who sit for the slot 2 and slot 3. The main reason behind the normalisation process is to eradicate the discrimination over difficulty in the exam paper. There is really a common myth where candidates think the overall difficulty in the exam comes with slot but the actual reason is the difficulty level of questions and the performance of candidates that is resulted to a normalisation process. Here is the respective scaled scores of the last year CAT exam paper.

CAT Last Year Paper – Difficulty & Normalisation Process (Slot 1)
	Slot 1	Scaled Score	CAT Percentile
VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension)	32	39.24	99.05
DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning)	28	33.21	99.55
QA (Quantitative Ability)	24	22.76	95.49
Overall		95.21	99.58

CAT Last Year Paper – Difficulty & Normalisation Process (Slot 2)
	Slot 2	Scaled Score	CAT Percentile
VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension)	32	34.41	97.93
DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning)	28	25.81	98.29
QA (Quantitative Ability)	24	25.66	96.94
Overall		85.88	99.15

CAT Last Year Paper – Difficulty & Normalisation Process (Slot 3)
	Slot 3	Scaled Score	CAT Percentile
VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension)	32	27.81	94.21
DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning)	28	35.73	99.79
QA (Quantitative Ability)	24	24.34	96.25
Overall		87.88	99.27

Number of CAT Exam Takers from 2020 to 2024

The table mentioned below shows the number of CAT exam takers from 2020 to 2024. According to the information, the CAT 2020 have 2,27,835 number of candidates registered for the exam, 1,90,144 number of candidates have appeared and this number slightly increase in number of registration from 2023, where the number of candidates appeared are 3,23,000. The rest information about year 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 below.

Year	Number of Candidates Registered	Number of Candidates Appeared	Percentage increase/decrease in test takers (%)
2020	2,27,835	1,90,144	(-) 9.42
2021	2,29,969	1,91,660	0.79
2022	2,55,501	2,22,184	15.92
2023	3,23,000	2,88,000	29.6
2024	3,29,000	2,93,000	1.73

CAT Score vs Percentile Trends for Previous Years (Last 5-Years Analysis)

The exam authorities release scaled scores for each section Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA) and total along with the CAT Percentiles on the official website. Aspirants must analyze the CAT score vs percentile previous years to get an idea of the competition trends, difficulty level, and set realistic goals accordingly during the preparation. This approach can help them optimize their current study plan and improve their chances of scoring 99+ percentile in CAT 2025. Understanding the expected score vs percentile CAT 2025 after appearing in the exam can also enable them to predict their percentile and chances of clearing the CAT cutoff marks of their target B-school. It has been observed that the CAT marks vs percentile changes every year due to factors like the number of test-takers, difficulty level, etc. Read to find complete details of CAT Score vs Percentile trends and how these insights can help you strategize your preparation effectively.

CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 (Expected)

As CAT 2025 exam is near and every aspirants get well prepared as well as doing their best to get good scores but here in the section we will be coveing the expected CAT Score vs Percentile 2025 by analyzing the previous year trends. The detailed information about the CAT marks vs percentile 2025 (expected) along with difficulty level is mentioned in the table given below.

Percentile	Expected Marks (2025)	Difficulty Level (Tentative)
99.9	120 – 125	Moderate to Difficult
99.5	105 – 110	Moderate
99	95 – 100	Moderate
97	80 – 85	Moderate
95	70 – 75	Easy to Moderate
90	58 – 62	Easy

CAT Score vs Percentile Trend 2024

This section covers the CAT score vs percentile of CAT 2024 where 123 marks in the exam covers 99.9 percentile, 104 marks approx. covers 99.5 percentile and the detailed information is mentioned in the table below.

Percentile	Marks in 2024
99.9	123
99.5	104
99	96
97	79
95	70
90	58
80	44

CAT Score vs Percentile Trend 2023

In the year 2023, if the candidate has covered 101 marks then it is equal to 99.9 percentile among the test takers. The complete information about the CAT marks vs percentile 2023 is mentioned in the table.

Percentile	Marks in 2023
99.9	101
99.5	84
99	76
97	61
95	54
90	44
80	35

CAT Score vs Percentile Trend 2022

In the financial year 2022, the candidate who scored 109 marks covers 99.9 percentile which is slightly less in comparison to 2021. The CAT marks vs percentile for 2022 is mentioned in the table below.

Percentile	Marks on 2022
99.9	109
99.5	92
99	84
97	72
95	62
90	49
80	36.02

CAT Score vs Percentile Trend 2021

In the financial year 2021, the candidates who secured 124 marks covers 99.9 percentile, for 110 marks it is 99.5, for 98 marks it is 99 percentile and simultaneously entire information is mentioned in the table below which covers the CAT 2021 exam percentile respective to the CAT marks.

Percentile	Marks in 2021
99.9	124
99.5	110
99	98
97	82
95	73
90	60
80	45

Also Check: CAT 2021 Score vs Percentile

CAT Score vs Percentile Trend 2020

This section covers the respective CAT marks vs percentile trends for CAT 2020 exam. If we are talking about 99.9 percentile, this can be attained with the help of 130 marks, followed by 97 percentile with 85 marks and so on. The detailed information table about the CAT score vs percentile 2020 trend is mentioned below.

Percentile	Marks in 2020
99.9	130
99.5	115
99	101
97	85
95	76
90	63
80	48

Section-Wise CAT Score vs Percentile Trends

Aspirants should also check the previous year’s CAT Score vs Percentile across all the sections to get an idea of the competition level and set target scores for each subject accordingly. In CAT 2024, aspirants needed to score around 36 marks to secure 99.5 percentile in Quant. Similarly, those who were aiming for 99.5 percentile in LRDI were required to obtain around 41 marks in CAT 2024. Students needed to achieve around 44 marks in CAT VARC 2024 to secure 99.5 percentile. Check below the section-wise Score vs Percentile CAT Trends from 2024 to 2022 in the tables below.

CAT Score vs Percentile 2024: Quant Score vs Percentile Trends

Check with the respective CAT marks vs percentile for the Quant score is mentioned below.

Percentile	Scores
99.9	45
99.5	36
99	33
97	25
95	22
90	17
85	13
80	11
75	9

CAT Marks vs Percentile 2024: LRDI Score vs Percentile Trends

If we talk about the LRDI (Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation) section, then the CAT score vs percentile in 2024 varies according to scores where 50 marks covers 99.9 percentile in the exam, 41 score is equivalent to 99.5 percentile and so on. The detailed information related to the CAT marks vs percentile 2024 – LRDI score vs percentile trends is mentioned in the table below.

Percentile	Scores
99.9	50
99.5	41
99	37
97	30
95	27
90	22
85	19
80	17
75	14

CAT Score vs Percentile 2024: VARC Score vs Percentile Trends

Now let’s cover the VARC score vs percentile trends of CAT 2024, where 99.9 percentile in the CAT exam is equivalent to 55, 99.5 percentile covers 44 scores in the exam and so on. Check the detailed information in the table given below.

Percentile	Scores
99.9	55
99.5	44
99	40
97	33
95	30
90	24
85	20
80	18
75	15

CAT Marks vs Percentile 2023: VARC Score vs Percentile Trends

The respective scores given in the table represents the data for CAT 2023 where 100 percentile is equivalent to the 61.66 scaled CAT scores, 99.99 percentile is equivalent to 57.32 scaled scores and so on. This represents that CAT 2023 data completely to understand the CAT score vs percentile 2023 for Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension.

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100	61.66
99.99	57.32
99.87	51.02
99.5	44
99.26	41.76
99	39.7
98.21	35.88
96.72	31.47
95	28.68
93.5	26.33
90	23.39
86.43	20.66
80	17.58
75	15.27
62.28	11.53

CAT Score vs Percentile 2023: LRDI Score vs Percentile Trends

In LRDI section, the 100 percentile is equivalent to 50.6 scaled CAT score, 99.99 is equivalent to 42.7 and so on. Check the complete information about the CAT marks vs percentile 2023 for the LRDI scores is mentioned in the table given below.

CAT Percentile	Scaled CAT Score
100	50.6
99.99	42.7
99.9	36.58
99.71	32.78
99.43	29.71
99.14	27.56
99	27.39
98.37	24.58
96.83	20.88
95.53	19.6
90	15.63
84.87	13.01
80	11.67
77.88	10.81
72.94	9.67

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CAT Marks vs Percentile 2022: VARC Score vs Percentile Trends

The table mentioned in the section represents the CAT 2022 score vs percentile trends for the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension.

VARC Percentile	VARC Scaled Score
99.94 %ile	52.43
99.73 %ile	45.57
99.41 %ile	41.77
98.12 %ile	35.42
97.84 %ile	34.18
95.35 %ile	29.12
93.43 %ile	26.59
90.80 %ile	24.06
83.13 %ile	18.99
77.59 %ile	16.46

CAT Score vs Percentile 2022: LRDI Score vs Percentile Trends

The table mentioned in the section represents the CAT 2022 score vs percentile trends for the Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation.

DILR Percentile	DILR Scaled Score
99.99 %ile	48.31
99.98 %ile	45.98
99.61 %ile	34.37
99.41 %ile	31.96
99.33 %ile	30.89
97.37 %ile	22.76
96.67 %ile	21.6
92.29 %ile	16.95
89.56 %ile	14.75

Score vs Percentile CAT 2022: Quant Score vs Percentile Trends

The table mentioned in the section represents the CAT 2022 score vs percentile trends for the Quantitative Ability.

Quant Percentile	Quant Scaled Score
99.95	49.38
99.9	46.3
99.86	44.26
99.45	36.85
99.38	36.07
97.46	26.85
95.72	23.31
85.97	14.57
99.95	49.38
99.9	46.3

CAT Score vs Percentile (2020–2024)

The table covers the brief information where the CAT marks vs percentile trends arranged from 2020 to 2024 which helps in analyzing the CAT percentile relevant to the scores in a particular year. Candidates can easily get 99.9 percentile if they scored 123 marks in CAT 2024, 101 marks in CAT 2023, 109 marks in CAT 2022, 124 marks in CAT 2021 and 130 marks in CAT 2020 and respectively the complete information to other CAT percentiles.

Percentile	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
99.9	123	101	109	124	130
99.5	104	84	92	110	115
99	96	76	84	98	101
97	79	61	72	82	85
95	70	54	62	73	76
90	58	44	49	60	63
80	44	35	36	45	48

CAT Score vs Percentile – CAT Exam Pattern & Marking Scheme

Sections in CAT 2025	Total Number of Questions (expected)	Sectional Time Limit
Section I – VARC	24	40 Minutes
Section II – DILR	22	40 Minutes
Section III – QA	22	40 Minutes
Total Questions	68 (24+22+22)	120 minutes

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How to Convert CAT Score to Percentile?

The CAT raw scores will be initially computed based on the marking scheme outlined by the official authorities. The marking scheme states that 3 marks shall be awarded to each correct response, and 1 mark will be deducted for every wrong answer in MCQs. As the entrance test will be conducted in different sessions, so normalization process will be adopted to ensure fairness and equity in the comparison of candidates’ performances. Upon completing the normalization across different forms, the scores will be further normalised for different sections. The Scaled Scores secured by this process shall be converted into percentiles for the shortlisting purpose. We have shared below an example on how to calculate the percentile score for the QA section. A similar procedure will be followed for the overall percentile score calculation for the other two sections, i.e. DILR and VARC. The guide to compute the CAT overall and sectional percentiles is shared below:

Step 1: Determine the overall number of test-takers (N) who took part in the CAT examination, including all sessions.

Step 2: Assign ranks to all CAT test-takers based on their scaled scores in the QA section. If two or more test-takers have the same scaled score, they should be given the same rank.

For example, if two aspirants secure the highest scaled score in the QA section, they will be assigned a rank of 1. Furthermore, the aspirant (s) who secure the 2nd highest scaled score in the QA section will be allocated a rank of 3 and so on.

Step 3: Compute the percentile score (P) of the test-taker with rank (r) in the QA section as:

𝑃 = ((𝑁 − 𝑟)/𝑁) x 100

Step 4: Round off the computed percentile score (P) of the aspirant up to two decimal points.

For example:

• Percentile scores which is above or equal to 99.995 are rounded off to 100.
• Percentile scores between 99.985 and 99.995 are rounded off to 99.99, and so on.

Top MBA Colleges in India to Target Based on CAT Score vs Percentile

This is other but yet very important aspect that candidate need to understand before appearing for the actual exam because targeting your CAT percentile goal while maintaining proper information about the top MBA colleges in India based on CAT marks vs percentile is quite important. The detailed information for the same is mentioned below.

For 99+ CAT Score vs Percentile – Top MBA Colleges to Target

Here are the respective list that candidate should target if they are aiming for 99+ percentile in the CAT 2025:

1. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad)
2. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM Bangalore)
3. Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM Calcutta)
4. Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM Indore)
5. Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM Kozhikode)
6. Indian Institute of Management, Mumbai (IIM Mumbai)
7. Faculty of Management Studies (FMS Delhi)
8. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi)

These are the top tier 1 MBA colleges in India and requires high CAT score vs percentile to shortlist candidates for admission in the MBA or PGP programs with excellence.

For 95+ CAT Score vs Percentile – Top MBA Colleges to Target

Please find the respective colleges that accepts candidates with the CAT percentile range more than 95.

1. Indian Institute of Management, Jammu (IIM Jammu)
2. Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai (TISS Mumbai)
3. Management Development Institute, Gurgaon (MDI Gurgaon)
4. Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak (IIM Rohtak)
5. Indian Institute of Management, Sirmaur (IIM Sirmaur)
6. Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi (IIFT Delhi)
7. Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur (IIM Udaipur)
8. Indian Institute of Management, Bodhgaya (IIM Bodhgaya)

For 90+ CAT Score vs Percentile – Top MBA Colleges to Target

Here are the respected list mentioned below that will take admission on 90+ CAT score vs percentile in exam.

1. Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar (IIM Amritsar)
2. Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam (IIM Visakhapatnam)
3. Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur (IIM Sambalpur)
4. Indian Institute of Management, Nagpur (IIM Nagpur)
5. Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli (IIM Trichy)
6. T.A. Pai Institute of Management (TAPMI)
7. Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA Ahmedabad)
8. Institute of Management Technology (IMT Ghaziabad)
9. International Management Institute (IMI Delhi)

Also Check : Tier 1 MBA Colleges in India

Combined Table for Top B-Schools With CAT Score vs Percentile

This table covers the top Indian Institutes of Management and B-Schools in India with respective CAT marks vs percentile.

For 99+ CAT Score vs Percentile	Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad)
	Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM Bangalore)
	Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM Calcutta)
	Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM Indore)
	Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM Kozhikode)
	Indian Institute of Management, Mumbai (IIM Mumbai)
	Faculty of Management Studies (FMS Delhi)
	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi)
For 95+ CAT Score vs Percentile	Indian Institute of Management, Jammu (IIM Jammu)
	Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai (TISS Mumbai)
	Management Development Institute, Gurgaon (MDI Gurgaon)
	Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak (IIM Rohtak)
	Indian Institute of Management, Sirmaur (IIM Sirmaur)
	Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi (IIFT Delhi)
	Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur (IIM Udaipur)
	Indian Institute of Management, Bodhgaya (IIM Bodhgaya)
For 90+ CAT Score vs Percentile	Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar (IIM Amritsar)
	Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam (IIM Visakhapatnam)
	Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur (IIM Sambalpur)
	Indian Institute of Management, Nagpur (IIM Nagpur)
	Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli (IIM Trichy)
	T.A. Pai Institute of Management (TAPMI)
	Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA Ahmedabad)
	Institute of Management Technology (IMT Ghaziabad)
	International Management Institute (IMI Delhi)

Strategy to Score 99+ CAT Score vs Percentile

1. Getting the perfect 99+ in CAT completely depends on the difficulty level of the exam but according to the previous year analysis candidates will get 99+ CAT percentile on 95-100 marks approximately.
2. CAT exam is a sectional where over CAT score vs percentile depends on how good you will perform across VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension), DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning) and QA (Quantitative Aptitude).
3. It is quite important to strategize the attempt over maintaining accuracy instead number of attempts across VARC, DILR & QA.
4. Use mock test series and Previous Year Questions (PYQs) effectively that later leads to analyze overall performance which reflects the actual exam environment. With the help of mock test papers, candidates will able to analyze that where they are standing currently, what are their weak areas so that they will cover overall CAT score vs percentile to improve performance and steps out towards 99+ CAT percentile.

CAT Marks vs Percentile for Top IIMs

Top IIMs in India are IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore and more. These IIMs considered high percentile in the CAT exam from students. Candidates have to secure safe score of 99+ percentile in CAT to get admission calls from top Indian Institutes of Management. The complete information of the CAT 2024 score vs percentile is mentioned in the table below.

Percentile	Marks in 2024
99.9	123
99.5	104
99	96
97	79
95	70
90	58
80	44

CAT Marks vs Percentile: Direct Download Link Here

This PDF covers the detailed 5 year trends analysis of CAT score vs percentile along with other important resources relevant to CAT 2025 exam. You can directly download the PDF from here.

Related Links: CAT Score vs Percentile (Updated)

These related links are really helpful for the CAT aspirants to understand the past year trends of CAT score vs percentile that leads to a better understanding.

CAT Score vs Percentile 2024	CAT Score vs Percentile 2022
CAT Score vs Percentile 2023	CAT Score vs Percentile 2021

CAT Score Calculator by iQuanta

iQuanta’s CAT score calculator is a tool that will help you calculate your CAT scores and predict their percentiles even before the declaration of CAT results. The tool predicts your overall score based on sectional scores in VARC, QA, and DILR. It then helps you know the CAT percentile. This will help you know your chances of admission to your desired B-school. Check the tool by clicking on the button mentioned below.

Conclusion: CAT Score vs Percentile

Understanding the CAT score vs percentile is important for tracking goals as well as the CAT preparation progress. While the raw score reflects your actual performance in the CAT exam, the percentile actually defines where the candidate stands among all the competitors. That’s why it is important for candidates to focus on consistent practice, time management as well as accuracy to convert marks into higher percentile. With the structured approach and the right strategy, securing 99+ percentile in the CAT exam is achievable.

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CAT Score vs Percentile Trend FAQs